The Peace Pulpit

As I mentioned before, I’ve very, very happy to be able to celebrate this Feast of Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all of us today, and I’m very impressed with how many are wearing red -- the sign of the tongues of fire that came down upon the first disciples. So thank you for inviting me to be here and especially for confirming some of the people from the community. It’s very important, though, that we first of all have the candidates presented.

[The candidates for confirmation are presented to Bishop Gumbleton and he addresses them about the significance of confirmation being a commitment to follow Jesus.]

We listen, then, to the Scriptures today and they help us in a very special way -- because this is the Feast of Pentecost -- to understand very clearly, deeply, what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Perhaps you noticed, and if you did maybe you were a bit confused by it -- in the first lesson today, when does St. Luke say the Holy Spirit came? Fifty days after Easter, right? Pentecost. John’s Gospel -- did you listen? Easter Sunday night. Jesus came to the disciples, breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit. Well, when did it happen? Was it Easter Sunday or was it 50 days later?

Note From the Editor:

We don't have a new homily from Bishop Gumbleton for you today. Instead, we dipped into our archives for a recording of a homily from a few weeks ago. You may have seen the text of Bishop Gumbleton's homily delivered at his former parish, St. Leo's in Detroit, for the Easter Vigil, April 7. Today you can listen to the bishop read the Gospel, Luke 24:1-12, and then preach.

Now when we listen to the scripture today, we might find ourselves like Peter and the other disciples. They weren't just going for recreational fishing. They had given up. They had not realized the full impact of what they had just been through. Holy Week, Good Friday and then Easter Sunday.

I must say again how thankful I am to be back here tonight and I thank all of you for being here and for celebrating with such enthusiasm and such joy and such beauty. It really is a blessing and a grace to be among you once more.

Since we accept the truth about Jesus, that he is fully human as we are, we can readily understand that he underwent temptations, that the devil could tempt him as we hear in today's gospel. It could be temptations like anyone of us experience, temptations to be dishonest perhaps or temptations to speak something unkindly about another person or temptations to get angry and so on.